Along Park Avenue, from 57th to 67th Streets, New Yorkers can enjoy an early spring thanks to Will Ryman‘s steel and fiberglass installation, The Roses. Towering up to 25 feet high, the works brighten up the wintry uptown grayness, breaking down the elitism of gallery-laden art and offering a different experience from each point of view—below, above, in a cab passing by. From a family of artists, and a background in theatre, Ryman capitalizes on the public placement, relying on the viewers to “complete my piece,”according to NY Times. Working with City Hall, the Borough Hall Commissioners Office, and the Park Avenue Sculpture Committee, Ryman had his trash vetoed—matches and a Doritos bag—but a variety of dog-sized bugs survive, as well as 20 scattered rose petals, six of which double as lawn chairs.

Unlike many other large scale artists, Ryman himself worked on the sculptures everyday at KB Projects in Greenpoint (Wall Street Journal), donning construction overalls to keep warm at the scene of installation (Bloomberg). The final product of oversized, out-of-proportion roses were painted with industrial strength boat paint to produce a shiny, though lumpy, sheen. Though the bright colors offer an initial pleasantness, the large neon thorns, along with the bugs and proposed trash, hint at a world more “primal, menacing and, I think, ultimately the truth,” Ryman told NY Times, while referring to the inspiration he drew from the David Lynch film “Blue Velvet.”

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